


Candy Grams

by ArtistActressAthena



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Age Up, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But Only Like A Year, Canon Compliant, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Secret Admirer, because I seriously don’t think I’m physically capable of writing anything without angst, still don't know how to tag, well mostly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtistActressAthena/pseuds/ArtistActressAthena
Summary: Valentine’s Day is here, and Grant High School’s infamous candy grams are once again causing a boatload of drama. When Cyrus gets a candy gram that leads to an anonymous love note, he assumes it’s just a joke and doesn’t pay it any mind. Everyone else, on the other hand, is dead set on finding the candy gram’s sender.Jonah’s already confused about the whole thing, but no one can figure out why T.J. gets so nervous when they talk about Cyrus’s secret admirer. And Marty just thinks the whole thing is hilarious because it couldn’t be more obvious.





	Candy Grams

**Author's Note:**

> tw - self-deprecation
> 
> Hello, Friendom! I have wanted to write a Tyrus fic for FOREVER and Valentine’s Day finally gave me the inspiration. Hope you guys like it! (Even though there are a million fics almost exactly like this one lol)

Cyrus didn’t like Valentine’s Day. At all.

Don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t one of those people who thought love was fake or a curse or anything like that. He was actually a pretty hopeless romantic. No, he hated Valentine’s Day because...well.

As he walked down the hall through the sea of happy couples, Cyrus heard a “Happy V-day, Slayer,” and turned to see Marty presenting Buffy a bag of Hershey’s Kisses with a pair of bright pink shoelaces taped to the front. He heard Buffy laugh and lean towards Marty and and Cyrus averted his gaze before he saw anything else, only for his eyes to land on Jonah and Libby staring at each other and smiling as they (probably) signed adorably mushy sentences and phrases to each other.

Everyone was so happy today. Everyone Cyrus had pushed his way through was so jubilant and bright, and he was just...alone. He felt so, so alone.

Cyrus gave himself a halfhearted smile and fidgeted with his messenger bag straps in a desperate attempt to keep himself composed. This was why he hated Valentine’s Day.

As he turned the corner, he saw T.J., whose ~~handsome gorgeous cute~~ _perfectly average and normal_ _face_ immediately lit up upon seeing Cyrus.  “Hey, Underdog!” he greeted, brushing against the shorter boy as they started walking. “How’s your morning going?”

Cyrus fought off the blush he knew as growing on his face. “Not great.”

T.J. shot Cyrus a look of fake confusion. “Why? What could possibly be wrong with a perfectly normal day such as this?”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re asking that? You have math first period,” he replied, then mentally cursed himself because friends don’t just _memorize_ their friends’ schedules, _jeez Cyrus you’re making your crush on him so obvious and he’s going to find out and never speak to you again and —_

“Oh, shoot, you’re right,” T.J. realized. He made a face. “Well, other than that, today’s just a normal day, am I right?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes amusedly. “T.J., I really do appreciate your efforts to distract me from the fact that it’s Valentine’s Day, but considering the fact that I’ve seen three separate couples make out in the past five minutes and our school looks like it got drenched in Pepto-Bismol, it’s not exactly working.” He sighed. “I feel like I’m the protagonist in one of those cheesy high school rom-coms. Except most of those star seniors, and I’m a freshman. And I’m gay. And I’m never the protagonist in anything; I’m more the quirky best friend. And...you know what, this analogy isn’t really working,” he concluded.

T.J. laughed, and the sound made Cyrus’s heartbeat quicken. He had to get rid of this crush, and fast.

“Well, you never know,” T.J. shrugged. “Who says the quirky best friend can’t get a boyfriend?” He winked and ruffled Cyrus’s hair. “See ya, Cyrus,” he said as he strutted into math.

Cyrus smiled shyly as he gave a little wave and a blush overtook his face. Even though he knew T.J. would never return his feelings ( _Why would he? He has his pick of literally anyone else in the school; it’s a miracle he even bothers to talk to you as it is_ ), he could at least be happy when he was around him, right?

He saw Andi as he approached the end of the hall and tapped her on the shoulder. She held up her finger to signal “just a second”. Her phone vibrated (it was presumably a text from Amber, judging by her dopey grin). She giggled, she quickly typed something out, she pocketed her phone and then she finally looked up at Cyrus. In true Andi fashion, she was all decked out for Valentine’s Day, complete with earrings made out of pink paper beads and a headband fashioned out of a piece of the pansexual pride flag Walker had given to her as a birthday present back when the school year started. She smiled when she saw Cyrus, and then her expression turned to pure horror. She clapped her hands over her mouth, and then she ran her fingers through her hair as she kneeled down to fumble through a pile of papers in her backpack. “Oh, shoot, no....oh no no no no no!” She zipped up her backpack in frustration and looked up at Cyrus. “Cyrus, I’m _so sorry!_ ” she exclaimed. “Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to buy you your candy gram yesterday!”

For the past two years, Andi had bought her friends platonic candy grams for Valentine’s Day, usually adorned with cute little messages like _I’m so happy to have a friend like you!_ or _Will you be my platonic valentine?_ In seventh grade, she had only purchased the candy grams for Buffy and Cyrus, and in eighth grade she had also gotten one for Jonah (though whether is was just platonic or if it was an actual, legitimate candy gram is still unknown). But their group of friends had grown so much in between eighth and ninth grade that Andi had ended up with a full list of people to buy candy grams for. Apparently, Cyrus had been left off of that list.

Andi hurriedly explained what had happened as they walked to their classes (Chem for Andi, English for Cyrus). “I turned in everyone else’s forms but I couldn’t remember if you preferred plain Hershey’s bars or the ones with almonds in them and I was planning on asking you but I got caught up at the end of Spanish because Señora López held us all after the bell so I didn’t get the chance to ask you so I forgot to write your candy on the form and I didn’t turn it in yesterday,” she gasped as she ran out of breath. “Oh my gosh, I feel awful,” she choked out. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I’d make it up to you with baby taters and milkshakes at The Spoon today but I have a date with Amber. Cyrus, I am _so sorry_.”

“Andi, seriously, it’s okay,” Cyrus reassured her. “It’s just a candy bar. It’s not a big deal.”

That was a lie. At both Jefferson and Grant, candy grams were a huge deal. They were the start of a lot of relationships and even more breakups, but people like Andi who bought candy grams in bulk for their friends were pretty common as well. Getting a candy gram was your ticket to being the part of a majority for just a day. It stung a little that Cyrus had been forgotten, but it’s not like he could tell Andi that. It would just make things worse. “I promise it’s okay,” Cyrus repeated as they arrived at the door to ninth-grade chemistry.

Andi nodded. “I’ll bring you a special homemade candy gram tomorrow,” she offered. “I’ll ask Cece to help make those chocolate raspberry bars you like. Or is it the chocolate strawberry ones?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Cyrus shrugged. “But for the record, Cece’s chocolate _cherry_ bars are absolutely sensational.”

Andi grinned and sighed with relief. “Okay. I promise I’ll bring you your gift tomorrow. Hold me to that,” she said suddenly as she pointed her finger at Cyrus.

Cyrus nodded and waved as Andi walked into chemistry.

He knew had had no reason to, but as he walked into English, he clutched his notebooks to his chest and willed himself not to cry.

.o0o. 

“Alright, everybody, it’s time for you to receive your candy grams,” Dr. Metcalf announced as he walked into Cyrus’s English class, cueing ear-shattering screams and excited whoops from the class.

“Uh, yeah, you’ll receive your candy grams _after you be quiet,”_ Metcalf said sternly.

Total silence. Well, total silence except for Jonah, who muttered something along the lines of “can’t believe this guy’s got a full sleeve of tattoos.” This was very confusing to Cyrus, who was sitting right next to Jonah, but he chose not to worry about it as Metcalf called out the names of the students in alphabetical order.

“I can’t believe I’m the one who has to do this. Beck,” Metcalf called out, tossing Jonah two Hershey’s bars. Jonah caught them and grinned. Cyrus gave him a forced smile.

“Campbell.” Toss.

“Cox.” Toss.

“Darr.” Toss.

“Gonzalez.” Toss. If, by some miracle, Cyrus did get a candy gram, his name would be next. Maybe someone had...no. There was no way.

“Halliday.” Of course. Cyrus felt his heart sink, despite already knowing he wasn’t going to get anything. He was so stupid for getting his hopes up for no reason. He guessed he just thought that maybe...no, it was stupid. As Metcalf continued through the names, Jonah tapped Cyrus with his pencil. Cyrus turned to face him.

“You didn’t get one?” Jonah whispered. “I thought Andi got one for all of us.”

“She forgot to get mine. She’s bringing me stuff tomorrow. It’s okay,” Cyrus whispered back. 

Jonah held out one of his Hershey’s bars. “Do you want one of mine?” 

Cyrus smiled at Jonah’s genuine offer, but shook his head. “Thanks, but...I don’t want to take away your gifts.”

“I feel bad, though,” Jonah admitted as he took a bite of one of his Hershey’s bars. 

Cyrus sighed. “Don’t. I’m fine.”

“Just have a tiny little piece of this one,” Jonah insisted, breaking off a little rectangle of chocolate and handing it to Cyrus. “It’s from Andi anyway.”

“Thanks.” Cyrus smiled and popped the chocolate into his mouth as Metcalf finished off the names with “Yang”. 

“Alright, I think that’s…” Metcalf took another look in the bag and his eyebrow quirked up. “...not all of them,” he finished. He took out the last candy gram from the bag. “Goodman!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure how yours ended up on the bottom. Here you go.” He tossed the candy gram to a very surprised Cyrus and by some miracle, he caught it. Sure enough, _Cyrus Goodman_ was written on the paper.  

The class thanked Dr. Metcalf as he left the classroom and their teacher gave them the last few minutes of class to eat their candy and talk. 

Jonah excitedly nudged Cyrus with his elbow. “Look at you, getting a real candy gram!” he said with a grin. “Who’s it from?”

“It’s not a ‘real’ candy gram,” Cyrus corrected, making air quotes. “It’s probably just from Buffy or something,” he mumbled to himself as he carefully removed the pale pink paper from the chocolate bar. He noticed that he had gotten a Hershey's bar with almonds. His favorite.

The paper was small, and it just read: _Check your locker :)_  

Jonah and Cyrus looked at each other, then down at the paper, then at each other again.

As soon as the bell rang, the two of them bolted down the hall to Cyrus’s locker. Sure enough, there was a piece of notebook paper taped to the door. Jonah peered over Cyrus’s shoulder curiously as Cyrus removed, unfolded, and read the note written in large, clear print.

_Cyrus,_

_So this is probably really weird (okay it’s definitely really weird), but I wanted to give you something to make you happy today since I’ve heard you mention you don’t like Valentine’s Day and I don’t know, maybe the chocolate helped? I’m not sure about this note. Anyways, I just want to say that you’re amazing and adorable and I really, really like you. Like, a lot. Just thinking about you and your eyes and your smile...well, it makes me smile and blush like an idiot._

_I’m a coward, so this note will most likely be anonymous. So yeah. Happy Valentine’s Day._  

Cyrus looked up from the note, his eyes wide. Jonah looked at Cyrus. “Whoa,” they both muttered. 

Cyrus shook his head and crumpled up the note, stuffing it in his pants pocket as Jonah asked, “Wait, what are you doing? That note was so sweet!” 

“I know,” Cyrus replied as his eyes welled up. “That’s how I know it’s a joke.”

.o0o. 

“You got WHAT?!” Buffy and Andi screamed in unison. Marty winced at the noise. 

“Yes, I got a love note,” Cyrus said exasperatedly as he slammed the crumpled paper on the lunch table and picked at the barely edible potatoes on his lunch tray. “And I already told you it’s a prank.”

“Why would you think that?” Marty asked, picking up the note and smoothing it out. 

“Um, because it’s _me?_ ” Cyrus cried. “Who would ever _actually_ have a crush on _me_?” 

Marty held back a snort as he glanced at T.J. looking at the group with a confused expression from across the cafeteria. _Oh, I can think of someone._

“C’mon, Cy-guy, don’t put yourself down like that,” Jonah objected, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re more crush-worthy then you give yourself credit for,” Buffy added as she took the note from Marty and started to skim through it. “You’re smart, funny, kind…hey, look, the person who wrote the note said that they smile whenever they think about you!”

“Not to mention you’re cute. Or, as your secret admirer wrote it, _amazing and adorable_ ,” Andi finished as she peered over Buffy’s shoulder.

“ _T_ _hey’re not my secret admirer,_ ” Cyrus groaned. “It. Is. A. Joke.”

“Think what you want about it, but I think it’s real.” She looked at her watch and her eyes widened. “Jonah, we gotta get back to the library.” 

“And of course it’s when something interesting is happening,” Jonah said, shaking his head and throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief. “Alright, see you guys later!” he said with a wave as he and Andi left the cafeteria. Right before they walked through the entrance, Jonah turned back around and yelled, “IT'S REAL,” earning glares from the administrators and snickers from the rest of the students in the cafeteria, as well as another very puzzled look from T.J. as he walked over to the table.

Cyrus sighed. “Okay, fine. So what if it _is_ a real love note?” he continued as Marty saw T.J. put his lunch tray down at the seat next to Cyrus. “What happens then?” 

“What’s going on?” T.J. asked. 

Marty waved the paper. “Cyrus has himself a secret admirer.” 

Marty could practically see the hearts coming out of T.J.’s eyes as he looked at Cyrus. “Oh yeah?” Cyrus blushed and shrugged. T.J. put an arm around him and smiled, a rosy hue dusting his cheeks. “What’d they say?” 

Cyrus folded in on himself. “That —”

“That Cyrus is amazing and adorable and that they smile like an idiot whenever they think about him,” Buffy interrupted, probably to prevent Cyrus from saying something self-deprecating. “Whoever wrote the note is absolutely _whipped._ ” 

At that comment, the tips of T.J.’s ears turned red. It was subtle, but Marty didn’t miss it. _Hmmm…_

“You haven’t figured out who wrote it yet?” Marty asked. 

“Why, have you?” Buffy retorted.

Marty smirked. “Nope. Just wanted to scare you.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes, and then looked at Marty with a devilish grin. “Bet you I can figure it out first,” she challenged.

Marty reflected Buffy’s expression. “Oh, you’re _on_ , Slayer.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw T.J. start to fidget with his hoodie strings.

“Okay, _okay_ , competitions concerning my love life aside,” Cyrus interjected, “let me ask this again — if this is a real love note, and that’s a big _if,_ what would I do? What would I say? You can’t just say _hey person who I know likes me, I like someone else!_ That’s such an awful thing to do! I’d feel so bad. Oh — and what if they’re a girl,” Cyrus added with fear in his eyes. “That would be  _really_ awkward to explain.”  

T.J. quickly dropped his arm from Cyrus’s shoulder and averted his gaze from directly at Cyrus to down at his food. Marty raised an eyebrow in concern. “You alright, man?” he asked.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Cyrus questioned, worry painting his face.

T.J. looked up, confused, before stammering, “Nothing. I’m - I’m fine, yeah,” and abruptly standing up. “Just remembered I gotta be — somewhere else.” And with that, he scooped up this things and bolted out.

“Okay, that was weird,” Buffy decided once T.J. had left. “He never just _leaves_ like that. Especially when you’re here,” she added to Cyrus.

“Should I go after him?” Cyrus asked. “He looked pretty upset.”

Buffy shook her head. “It’s probably best if you just give him space.”

“Cyrus, can I read this?” Marty asked suddenly as he pointed to the note. With Cyrus’s confirming shrug, Marty picked up the note and read through it once, then twice. He had to admit it was a really sweet note. Whoever wrote it obviously cared a lot about Cyrus but was too scared to admit it. And that’s when Marty put two and two together.

He mentally facepalmed. _Duh._  

He laughed. “Cyrus, I don’t know how you could possibly think this is fake. Not only is it completely real, I know who wrote it.” 

“You do?!” Cyrus and Buffy exclaimed.

Marty nodded. “If my suspicions are correct, yes.”

Buffy gave Marty her classic you-better-not-be-BS’ing-me look. “For real.”

“For real,” Marty confirmed.  “If I’m right about this, you two are even more oblivious than I thought!” handed the note back to Cyrus as he and Buffy gaped at him. He smirked. “Well, it’s time for me to get back to class. See ya.”

“BUT WHO IS IT?!” they screamed.

“Figure it out,” Marty laughed. “Trust me, it’s not that hard.” And with that, he left the cafeteria, leaving Cyrus and Buffy rereading the note and rubbing their heads in confusion. _Seriously, guys,_ Marty thought as he rolled his eyes and smiled, _it couldn’t be more obvious._

.o0o. 

**Jonah Beck [2:21 PM]: so**

**Jonah Beck [2:21 PM]: to recap the five minutes of lunch that I missed**

**Jonah Beck [2:21 PM]: TJ showed up**

**Jonah Beck [2:22 PM]: and then left really suddenly**

**Jonah Beck [2:22 PM]: and then Marty somehow just**

**Jonah Beck [2:22 PM]: figured out who wrote the note???**

**Jonah Beck [2:23 PM]: and didn’t tell you who it was????**

**Jonah Beck [2:23 PM]: (゜-゜)**

**Cyrus Goodman [2:25 PM]: Ikr**

**Cyrus Goodman [2:25 PM]: I am so confused rn**

**Jonah Beck [2:26 PM]: me too!! (・・?**

**Jonah Beck [2:26 PM]: shoot gtg we’re actually doing something in art who would’ve thought**

**Jonah Beck [2:26 PM]: (^^)/~~~**

**Jonah Beck [2:27 PM]: gl!!**

.o0o.

A few days had passed since the fateful Valentine’s Day, and Cyrus was getting more and more worried about T.J. as each day went by. The jock had become closed-off and unresponsive, and he was being less touchy-feely than usual, which Cyrus admitted he missed. He was talking to Cyrus a lot less, and there were times where it felt like T.J. was going out of his way to avoid him. Even his texts has devolved from lengthy and passionate to flighty and indifferent. Cyrus didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. 

The possibility that Cyrus had unintentionally done something to hurt the other boy was enough to convince him that needed to figure out what was going on. So he came up with the brilliant idea to bake T.J. muffins and apologize for whatever he did and everything would go back to normal. 

The key word there was “idea”. Cyrus just ended up texting T.J. instead.

**Cyrus Goodman [5:17 PM]: Swings?**

**T.J. Kippen <3 [5:19 PM]: Give me 20 or so**

**T.J. Kippen <3 [5:19 PM]: Mom’s at work so I need to make dinner for me and Ari**

**T.J. Kippen <3 [5:20 PM]: But after that sure ig**

The sun had already mostly set by the time Cyrus got to the swing set. He hadn’t been expecting T.J. to get there before him, but there he was, wearing a dark red hoodie and gray sweatpants and swinging solemnly, his head hung to the ground. Cyrus felt his chest clench at the sight. He slowly walked over to the swing set and sat down as T.J. stopped swinging to look over at him. The corners of his lips twitched. “Hey,” he said softly. 

Cyrus could only respond with what he had been greeted with. “Hey.”

“So…” T.J. trailed off, pursing his lips. “Why’d you want to come here?”

Cyrus looked directly at T.J. “Look, whatever I did, I’m sorry, okay?”

T.J.’s expression to change from fairly neutral to fairly shocked.

“I’m sorry if I did something that hurt you or made you uncomfortable, but please please _please_ just tell me what it was I did,” Cyrus pleaded.

T.J. stood up from his swing, his confusion abundantly clear on his face. “You didn’t do — oh my gosh, no, you didn’t do anything wrong at all! Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been avoiding me for a _week_ ,” Cyrus choked out. He could feel his tears starting to sting his eyes as he gripped the chains of the swing. “You’ve barely talked to me at all, or walked to my classes with me like you usually do. You didn’t text me once yesterday. You always — _always_ — at least text me good morning and goodnight. Even during what happened with Reed and the gun.” 

He hung his head to the ground. “I’ve been really worried about you,” he confessed. He felt his knees start to shake. “Did something happen? Did I make you uncomfortable? Communication has always been our strong suit, T.J.; please just try and talk to me.”

T.J. let out a low exhale and slowly sat back on the swings. “I thought I was making _you_ uncomfortable,” he said quietly. “I mean, I’m a pretty touchy person and...you said you like someone, right? So I didn’t want to make things...weird.”

Cyrus slowly felt the heat rise to his face as T.J. spoke. “Yes, I do like...someone,” Cyrus admitted, “but that doesn’t have to change our friendship! I was just saying that because of the note I got last week, and the awkwardness of having to reject my secret admirer —”

“I wrote the note!” T.J. blurted out as he jerked up and punched the pole of the swing set. The dull clang of the metal echoed for a moment, then total silence set in as the gravity of what T.J. had said fell onto Cyrus. _Oh my god._

He slowly stood up. “You...what?”

“I wrote the note,” T.J. repeated softly. Cyrus could see his cheeks becoming blotchy and pink. “It was the only way I could think of tell you I liked you without freaking out and bailing.”

Cyrus started to walk towards him. “So...it wasn’t a joke?”

“No!” T.J. exclaimed. He looked directly at Cyrus, cheeks bright red and knees starting to shake. “You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met. You are so kind and smart and brave, braver than you realize. And I’m so, so happy whenever I’m around you. Every time you smile at me my heart speeds up and I swear the world stops spinning. You are so beautiful, inside and out. I like you so, so much. So much it scares me. But you like someone else. I get it. Telling you was a stupid idea anyway.”

As T.J. looked away at the ground, Cyrus saw a single tear roll down his cheek and his heart ached. Slowly, he walked over to T.J. and pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms around T.J.’s torso and burying his face into his chest. T.J. froze for a second before quickly returning the hug, pulling Cyrus closer to him as he wrapped his arms around him and leaned his head on top of Cyrus’s.

Cyrus could feel his heartbeat speeding up. He smiled against T.J. and squeezed before pulling away and bringing T.J.’s hand to his chest. T.J. looked at him with confusion and Cyrus smiled. “Do you feel that?” he asked. “How fast my heart is beating?”

T.J. nodded, but he still looked confused.

Cyrus blushed. “It beats like that whenever I’m around you,” he said softly.

He took T.J.’s hands in his. “I like you,” he confessed. “I’ve liked you since the beginning of eighth grade. You’ve always believed in me, and you’re such an affectionate dork, and you’re really, really cute. Like, it should be a crime to be as attractive as you.”

At that, T.J. snorted and gave Cyrus a sheepish, tear-filled smile. Cyrus let out a halfhearted laugh and looked at the ground. “I never thought I’d ever have a chance with you,” he admitted. “Ever. I mean, I didn’t even know you weren’t straight, but even then I probably still would’ve thought, _Why would he like me?_ ”

Cyrus hugged T.J. again, wrapping his arms around the back of his neck and leaning up on his tiptoes to whisper, “I really wanted it to be you. You know, the person who wrote the note. You have no idea how much I wanted it to be you.”

And as T.J. returned the hug, Cyrus could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Well, you have no idea how much I wanted you to want it to be me.”

As they pulled apart again, T.J. mentioned, “Oh, and I’m gay, by the way. Just in case you didn’t know.”

They both laughed at that, and when their laughter faded, T.J. rubbed the back of his neck as he asked, “So...would you...maybe...go on a date with me?”

Cyrus felt his heart melt. He put his hands on T.J.’s shoulders and leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his cheek. T.J. was almost as red as his hoodie at this point, as was Cyrus. Cyrus leaned back down and gave T.J. a huge, glowing smile.

“I would love to, T.J.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


End file.
